Hoping I’m not to late to the party but praises for the humble electric kettle have not been sung here and that must be rectified.

A cheap electric kettle will last you for years and might become the most used appliance in your kitchen, depending on your preferences and habits. In terms of time and energy it is vastly more efficient to boil water in one of these than on a stovetop. It’ll be safer (and more ergonomic) than using a microwave to boil water in an open top container such as a cup or bowl. For physics reasons, microwaving distilled water can cause it to “explode” once disturbed and kettles avoid that problem entirely.

Most people associate kettles with hot drinks and “just add water” prepared foods but any recipe that calls for boiling water can be jumpstarted by using one of these first and then transferring the water into whatever vessel you’re cooking in. Beyond cooking, having quick access to hot water can be useful for things like making mop water, my apartment building has a less than stellar water heater so that may or may not be relevant to you.

Maintenance is pretty simple, keep it empty and unplug it when its not in use. Every once in a while you should descale (delime?) it by filling it up with a 1:1 mix of white vinegar and water, let it sit for a couple hours, boil it, pour it out and rinse, depending on how hard your water is you’ll only have to do that once every 3-6 months, it makes a huge difference in time to boil.

Lastly, there’s a lot of these nonsense all-glass ones that seem trendy right now and I would not trust normal glass to stand up to repeated heat stress like that. You should look for one that has a capacity of 1.5 to 2 liters, they’re pretty resistant to wear so secondhand will be just as good as brand new. A lot of the “vintage” ones from the middle of last century are well-built and pretty cute to boot, but whether its new or second hand you’re looking at the equivalent of 20-30 USD for one of these, anything more is just a ripoff.

I love my kettle :)